IntermediateDate & Time
Calculate invoice age with TODAY
Work out how many days old each invoice is.
TODAY
8 min25 points
TODAY practice exercises
Returns the current date, updating each time the sheet recalculates. Below are 2 interactive exercises that put it to work on realistic business data — you write the formula, and get told exactly what went wrong when it does not work.
Syntax
TODAY()
Practise TODAY
Ordered from most approachable to hardest.
When TODAY is the right tool
Returns the current date, updating each time the sheet recalculates. It belongs to the date & time family, and it shows up constantly in real work — which is why it is worth being genuinely fluent rather than merely familiar.
Reading about a function is not the same as being able to write it. The exercises on this page exist because the gap between recognising TODAY and producing it from memory, correctly, on data you have not seen before, only closes by doing it.
Questions about TODAY
How do I practise TODAY without Excel installed?
Every exercise on this page runs in your browser. You type the TODAY formula into a real spreadsheet grid and get told immediately whether it works — no download, no account.
What does TODAY do?
Returns the current date, updating each time the sheet recalculates. The syntax is TODAY(). The exercises below put it to work on realistic business data rather than abstract examples.
How long does it take to learn TODAY?
Most people can write a working TODAY formula within twenty minutes of practice. Getting it right under pressure — with edge cases, unsorted data and ranges that must survive being filled down — is what the harder exercises here are for.